Golden Flames
by strawberryamethyst
Summary: Clary is the new girl in school. She thinks that she can start a new life, have a clean slate. But that all might change when she happens to share lockers with the most popular and good-looking guy in Idris High School: Jace Wayland. And the fact that they have to move in eventually doesn't help the situation at hand... All human.
1. Chapter 1

Clary's POV

The warmth from the morning shower clouded the mirror in the bathroom; I rubbed away the condensation and gazed at the reflection.

In spite of my indifference to appearances before I had moved, I decided that since I was leaving all of my friends, I might as well start a new life. Have a clean slate. I wanted to throw away the life of living in the shadows unnoticed, or being taunted or picked on. My usual frizzy, wild red curls were tamed into a gentle cascade of waves. Due to my inexperience, I had used minimal amounts of makeup. Startlingly bright green eyes were set upon my pale skin with light freckles across the bridge of my nose.

No matter what I did, I still was the slightly less than average pretty.

I wolfed down my breakfast and dashed down my way to school; all while Jocelyn, my mother, was in bed. It wasn't like she was a motherly figure to me, anyway, so what was the point of calling her my "mother" or "mommy" or "mom"? Jocelyn had snuck up this whole _moving _thing out of nowhere, leaving me to only comply with no other choice.

* * *

There were so many people.

Everywhere.

They crowded against me like a stampede of buffalo. But I, being the nimble, agile, petite girl I was, weaved my way through the crowd successfully to my locker.

I began to start shoving the contents of my backpack into it until—

"What are you doing in my locker?" a melodic voice drawled. How irritating. I spun around, annoyed, to find myself face-to-face with the most beautiful person I had ever met.

Literally.

He had tousled blonde hair and a gorgeous smirk on his angular face. He was tall, yet muscular. And he had golden eyes that had so much depth. They reminded my subtly of a lion's. He was flocked by a bunch of other hot guys (though not as much as he was) and a bunch of giggly, most likely dumb, girls.

It occurred to me that I was gaping at him.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I'll give you a while to adjust to my attractiveness," he grinned arrogantly.

Wait—what? This was the guy bugging me about my locker. All of my previous irritation settled back.

"Excuse me, but last time I checked, this says Locker 421_. I'm sorry_, but can you read?" I retorted with the same tone, waving the white sheet with my locker number in his face.

He took the slip lazily and slid an identical paper out of his pocket, and held them side by side, still with a carefree smirk on his face. Then his jaw dropped.

"We have a _shared _locker?" he said indignantly. Well, he was just _so _verykind, wasn't he.

"I suppose so, if you happen to have locker 421," I stated simply. Then, trying my best to smother my exhilaration to having to share a locker with this person, I turned around nonchalantly and continued to organize my things in the locker.

"Whatever," the person said, with the equal amount of enthusiasm in his voice, "but I have the top half."

Well. That made sense, seeing as I had just finished putting the majority of my things onto the upper portion of the locker.

"Sorry, but it's currently occupied."

A particularly dumb-looking, curvaceous blonde from the gang stepped forward, and snarled, "Give him the space, you bi—"

"No thanks," I interrupted my, spinning around. This was truly annoying. And I still had to find my way around the campus.

"Kaelie, leave it," he said firmly. Kaelie shot me a glare, and sloppily pecked him on the cheek.

"Bye, _Jacey-_poo," she said, words dripping with honey.

I had to stifle a hysterical burst of laughter. I mean, seriously, _Jacey-poo_? Along with Kaelie, most of the crowd seemed to have been reminded that they needed to get their own lockers.

"Are you sure you don't want the lower half? Since you _are_ so much shorter."

My eyes narrowed. "Thanks for the concern, but I think I'll be able to handle it…" I stopped myself. It did make a bit of sense. "Alright, you can have it. However, you need to move my stuff."

"Sure thing, babe." He sent me a dazzling smile with a wink, and it took all of my effort not to collapse on the floor. I blushed furiously, but (_thank god_) it left as soon as he started to guffaw heartily, doubling over. I was now extremely ticked off.

Once he was finished, I sniffed and said stiffly, "Thanks."

He mock-frowned, "Ooh, why the sudden change of heart, redhead?"

"Clary. Nothing besides Clary," I seethed.

"Alright, then. The name's Jace." He grinned sexily and stuck out a hand. I ignored it completely, shoved the locker door closed, and walked away.

* * *

**Author's Notes:** I've been so inspired by all of the Mortal Instruments stories on FanFiction, and I've decided to attempt at a long story.

I'm SO furious at the casting for Jace Wayland for the movie! Alex Pettyfer is MUCH more suitable than Jamie Campbell Bower. UGH!

Anyway, REVIEW please!


	2. Chapter 2

I made sure to leave for my 4th period class way earlier than needed. The day went fairly well, mostly consisting of me introducing myself to the school. According to my trusty, now worn-out school map, my science class was in the opposite corner of the campus. As I hastily put in the combination code for the lock, I was greeted with a rush of papers falling out everywhere. I panicked; I couldn't risk being late. Then I noticed the mess of papers wasn't mine. Screw you, Jace.

I was actually considering leaving it, but before I could abandon the mess, a tall, dark-haired girl swooped by to help pick up the jumble. I was immediately envious of her beauty. She had lustrous, raven-black hair, designer clothes, high cheekbones, large, dark, eyes, and full lips. And she was _tall._

"Hey, I'm Isabelle," she said, smiling. Reaching down to pick up a magenta syllabus, she saw his name scrawled in black ink. _Jace._ "Whoa, why do you have Jace's papers?"

Great. Now she probably thought I was a stalker.

"Unfortunately, I have to share a locker with him," I sighed.

"Aw, I pity you. He's my step-brother, and I have to survive with him living in the same house as I do." She laughed lightly, a gentle tinkling sound. Isabelle didn't seem to be snobby, but rather sincere. I liked her, but was intimidated by her grandeur.

Isabelle pushed the neat pile of paper back into the locker. "So, are you new here?"

I nodded.

"That's cool. Well, do you need any help navigating to your classes?"

I nodded again. "Sure. I have science next."

I managed to arrive with the help of Isabelle just before the bell rang. The teacher had piercing gray eyes, and he motioned for me to come over. I walked to the front of the classroom by his desk.

"Class, this is Clarissa Fray. Please be kind to her. Why don't you go ahead and introduce yourself, Clarissa?"

I sighed exasperatedly. I didn't know how many times I had said this. "Hey, I'm Clarissa, but I prefer to be called—"

"Clary. She prefers to be called Clary." Jace grinned, and did that nod-of-the-chin that guys do to acknowledge a person's presence. He was lounging in the chair with his arms crossed over his chest.

I eyed him warily. "Yes, I prefer to be called Clary. I just moved here. So…yeah." I turned to Mr. Starkweather, who gazed at me expectantly. When he realized that I was finished, he said, "You can go sit over there in the empty seat."

Instead of talking about something that was actually useful, like c_hemistry _in an AP _Chemistry _class, he ranted on about the syllabus and expected behavior and classroom rules and criteria and…

I ripped out a sheet from my spiral notebook and began to draw the classroom, portraying the sunlight filtering in through the windows, and the portraits of the students' backs were fairly accurate, as well. I admired my work. Except for the blue lines crossing through it, it was very realistic.

"I'm insulted. You would rather look at your drawing than my face?"

I looked up, to find myself dangerously close to Jace's face. He was leaning over my desk—_my _desk, even though his own desk was far, far, away—and was frowning in fake-hurt. God, everything about him was perfect.

_What._

I leapt back and yelped, "What are you doing?" My momentum brought me farther than I expected, and my chair tilted back with such a force I knew I would crash onto the ground and humiliate myself in front of everyone.

I braced myself for the impact.

There was none.

I pried my eyes open, which had previously been squeezed shut. The scent of pine and winter-mint and cinnamon wood washed over me. The golden angel was kneeling next to me and had his arms underneath my chair, approximately a foot above the ground, with his fingers tangled in my hair.

The entire classroom had gone silent. Everyone was facing us.

I gazed into his dreamy, tawny, eyes. Jace smirked at me, his full, yet masculine, lips curved into a lopsided smile. "Didn't expect you to be so excited from my presence."

And just when I thought maybe he wasn't so bad, you know, saving me from falling on the floor, and all. I harrumphed and leaned forward, getting out of his grasp. And the chair _would've _righted itself, except for his fingers were still in my hair.

"Oh, sorry," he grinned sheepishly, unraveling his long, slender, and calloused fingers from my hair. I shivered, but not because it was cold. He seemed to take a deliberately long time, stroking a particular strand of hair. I scrutinized his face, and unable to determine whether or not if the apology was genuine.

"It's fine," I mumbled. I stood up, and glanced around the room. Most of the girls were glaring at me with jealousy blatantly etched upon their faces. I remained stoic, determined not to let him get to me. He was too arrogant, and abused his godly good looks and charm—and I needed to stop thinking about him like that.

A loud throat-clearing was heard. Mr. Starkweather. "Thank you, Jace, for helping…Clary. Now, everyone, please get back to work with your partners."

"Partners?" I said, bewildered.

"Yes, Clary. _Partners_," Jace said slowly, as if I were a 5-year-old.

"So…We're partners?"

"Gee, you're slow. Did you _not _notice Mr. Starkweather pulling our names out from the red cup?"

"Red cup?"

"Do you pay the slightest bit of attention in class? Even I was watching that. And yes, a _red_ cup. It's _red._ Or do you need me to explain that to you too, dumba—"

Don't slap him, don't slap him, don't slap him.

I sniffed, a tendency I had when trying to overcome emotions, even if I didn't have a runny nose. "Alright, so what is the thing we're partnering for?" I said, before I could stop myself. I had just added another reason as to how clueless I was of the situation. I mentally scolded myself.

He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance. "We're doing a long-term research paper on chapter five. You are the most ignorant person I have met, redhead."

"_Well_, I guess we best get started," I said through gritted teeth.

"Yep. You really need the extra time, since you're so slow."

My hands balled up into fists, and it took all of my self-control to not smack him upside the head.

* * *

The day passed without much event, except for my science class (word spread around quickly). I unlocked the apartment, where I waited for Jocelyn to come back home. The apartment was small, and quite cheap, but it was cozy.

I walked into the living room, threw my backpack onto the beaten couch, and headed over to the pantry. Snagging a box of goldfish, I plopped down and began to sketch. The lines eventually formed into a face. Blond hair, slim, muscular figure, stunning eyes… Was I drawing Jace?

No, I'm not—I'm just drawing a male that has strikingly similar features to the gorgeous guy in my science class… My thoughts roamed free in my mind, but were interrupted by a ring.

I scrambled over to the phone on the counter.

"Hello? Clary?"

"Hi, Joce—Mom."

"Well, I was just letting you know that there's a cold pizza in the fridge. I'm not going to be home for dinner."

"Ok. Why aren't you going to be here?"

"I have…" she paused. "some things to take care of. Bye, darling."

She hung up.

What things? Sighing, I retreated back to the couch, stuffing some more goldfish into my mouth. I still couldn't get the eyes right…

The phone rang again. Annoyed, I yelled, "What do you want, Mom?!"

Silence.

"Hello?" I said.

"Um…hey."

"Who is this?"

"It's the sexiest guy you know."

Okay…? "Who is this?" I repeated.

A short chuckle. "It's Jace."

The first thing that came up in my mind: "How did you get my number?"

Silence again. "Isabelle gave it to me…" Jace sounded so awkward over the phone. Or maybe he just felt uncomfortable.

Oh yeah, I had given Isabelle my phone number during lunch period. "Ok, I'll ignore the creepiness of that and ask you. What do you want?"

"Well, I can't find my notes for science. Do you possibly have it?"

"Um, let me check." I walked over quickly to my backpack, pulling out my blue science folder, the contents of it spilling out onto the coffee table. I spotted a paper that had unfamiliar handwriting. Elegant and tall, like him. The t's were crossed very high up, and the g's and y's were swooped over each other.

"I found it. I'll bring it to you tomorrow."

"Well, actually, I'm at Panera. Can you bring it to me there? I could really use your pretty face right now." Blood rushed up into my face, and I was glad that he couldn't see me. He gave me the address, and somehow, through his charm (as hard as I tried to resist it), was able to convince me to meet up with him there.

Looking through my science folder, I searched for the sketch I had made earlier in class.

It wasn't there. Strange.

Hm.

* * *

**Author's Notes: **Early chapter, for such quick response! Thanks! I mean, 16 followers, 9 favorites, and 5 reviews for _ONE DAY _for _ONE_ CHAPTER?! Awesome. I love the favorites and follows. ^_^ Every review is greatly appreciated. Reviews really make my day. I'm open for all suggestions to the story._  
_

Anyway, as to address the whole Jamie/Alex/Jace thing in the previous chapter: I got a lot of backlash about this. Sorry if I seemed offensive, I have _no doubt_ that Jamie Campbell Bower will portray Jace well in the film. I saw his acting in Harry Potter and Twilight, and it was fantastic. I simply meant, appearance-wise (how I envisioned Jace when reading the series) that Alex suited the role more than Jamie. Sorry again.

Enjoy! :)


	3. Chapter 3

Sighing, I scanned the room for Jace. It was hard to not miss him. He was practically surrounded by an audience of helpless girls.

He was absentmindedly fingering his sandwich, and his eyes locked with my emerald ones. He gave me a half-smile. There was a fluttering of butterflies in my stomach, against my will. I swung into the seat, hoping he couldn't see me practically shaking with nervousness, and pulled out his notes.

"Here you go."

He smirked, and grabbed it, but not before he brushed his fingers over mine. My nerves tripled. The silence had become awkward, so before I knew it, my traitorous mouth blurted.

"Honestly, Jace, how could you leave your notes in my folder? Were you _trying_ to get me to meet you at Panera?"

I was taken aback by his outburst of laughter. It was harsh and cold, as if the idea of going out with me was so hilarious. I flushed with anger. Did he really find me so pathetic that it was funny? I stomped on his foot and he yowled in pain.

"Ow! What the hell was that for?"

"I don't know, what was _that_ for? Why were you laughing?" I snapped back.

"Do you really want to know?" he said quietly, leaning in. His ocher eyes gleamed with something I couldn't quite put my finger on. "It's because you're cute when you're mad."

Before I could come up with something witty to say in response, my cell phone rang. It was my mom, according to the caller ID.

"Hi, Mom," I said.

"Hello. When you're done eating dinner, I will come pick you up to go somewhere."

Okay…? "Where is it?" I responded.

"Well, we're going to move into a new condo with—" she began.

"We're _moving_?!" I shrieked. Jace looked up from his munching of the sandwich, amused. I flicked his arm forcefully, causing him to drop his sandwich.

"Um, yes, darling. We're moving in with a man I met, he's very kind, and I'm sure you'll love him. Now, where are you? We need to move into his condo tonight. Do you have any questions?"

"Of course I do! How come I've never met this person, and yet we're _moving in _with him? Who is he? What are—?"

"These are all questions I can answer later, sweetheart. I'll explain everything to you later. I meant, do you have any questions about what to do?" Her voice was final.

I bit down my anger and questions and said meekly, "No, Mother." I hung up.

Jace looked at me curiously. "You're moving?"

"Yes, I am. It's none of your business anyway."

"Well, it kind of is. You see, if you're moving, then it might possibly bring some inconvenience to my family in order to work together for the science research project."

The lamest excuse ever.

So lame, in fact, that I started to laugh. He looked surprised at first, of course, but then he began to chortle along with me. His ridiculousness was simply hilarious.

"Here, let me order you something," he said, once my laughter had died down.

"No, no, it's fine, I really actually need to be going."

"I insist," he said, placing a hand over mine. Sparks jolted through my wrist, and the hairs on the back of my neck stood.

Shaking my head to get out of the daze, I said, "Alright, but a simple coffee will be adequate."

"Adequate? Who uses 'adequate' in this time era?" he scoffed. Ignoring him, I asked for a caramel latte.

We sat in uncomfortable silence for a while, before he broke it. "You're a really good artist."

Surprised, I looked up from my twiddling fingers and said, "What?"

"I saw that sketch you did during science. It's really good." He dug up the notebook paper from his pocket, and placed it on the table. "However, it would be better if you could include my face instead of my back. You see, my face happens to make everything look better."

I took the paper, and held it up, comparing it to the real Jace. "Well, I think your face would ruin the essence of the picture."

He nodded thoughtfully. "You're right. My face is so hot; it would literally set the paper on fire."

Yes, because that is exactly what I meant by ruining the picture.

"Or maybe I don't want to draw it because that big, fat head of yours can't possibly fit into the paper," I countered. Reaching into my pocket, I realized I had no money on me.

"Oh, sh*t. I'm sorry, I didn't bring any cash. I'll pay you back tomorrow at school."

"It's fine, you don't need to. Anyway, I should probably be going now. The whole team is probably waiting for me," he said, standing up.

"Team?"

"The football team."

I shriveled up inside. Of course. He was the star quarterback of Idris High School, and he probably didn't even mean for this to be that long or waste so much time with me. Embarrassed and flustered, I stood up and walked away, muttering a quick goodbye.

* * *

The ride in the taxi was awkwardly quiet. My mom had picked us up from the apartment, and since we had barely finished unpacking in our first apartment, it was a quick and easy job getting everything out.

She had briefly filled me in on how they had met, a description of him (that dripped with cheesiness), and that he was a filthy rich businessman working on Wall Street.

The condo proved it.

The building itself had towering walls that managed to reflect the sky and still be iridescent, shifting its appearance at every different angle.

The condo was huge for New York standards. It had 4 bedrooms, but one was used as an office and another for a sitting room (which was completely useless, in my opinion).

The main room had floor to ceiling windows that overlooked the beautiful skyline. Every part of the condo was sleek and modern, from the eccentric, angular sofas to the abstract paintings mounted on the wall.

In the main room stood a broad-shouldered man with silvery hair. He seemed cool and composed, and had a crisp, impeccable business suit on.

"Hello," he said somewhat warmly, his features lifting into a rather welcoming expression. "I have not been introduced properly, I assume. I am Valentine Morgensten. You must be Clary. I've heard so much about you." He then turned to Jocelyn, and his behind his eyes grew something deeper, like pure bliss. It was touching to see two impassive people love—

No.

I just met this person, and already I am accepting his love for my mother? But they both seemed so happy, and I couldn't break something so rare…so _delicate_ in her.

I schooled my face to smile, halfheartedly, though, and said, "I'm glad you two met each other. I take it we will be living here, right?"

Breaking his gaze away from Jocelyn, he turned and glanced at me. "Oh, yes. I will show you to your room."

He led me into one of the doorways and opened it.

I gasped.

It was beautiful: The walls were painted a light olive green, the bed was mostly white, the desk was simple yet elegant, and the entire room was just so…_earthy_ and gorgeous.

I couldn't say no.

After shoving the contents of my suitcase (easily) into the closet, I flipped open my sketchbook and began to doodle, which was then interrupted by a rapping on the door. Valentine gestured for me to come outside and said, "Ah, Clary. I seem to have forgotten to tell you something. You will be sharing the room with a boy. I'm very good friends with his parents, you see. Since they are in Europe for vacation, and he was not invited, he will reside here for the next 2 weeks."

But of course I wasn't listening to the last half, because there in the doorway stood someone I knew.

Someone who plagued my thoughts daily.

Jace.

* * *

Sorry for the incredibly late update! I took a 3-week vacation, and then school hit me with the strength of a tsunami wave, and I was drowning in assignments. Nonetheless, enjoy this chapter!


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